The world on this September 19th in 1957 was awash with 104 degree fevers, paralyzed with aching muscles and joints, throwing up just about everything everyone ate the past year and it was only getting worse. 1957 was The Year Of The Asian Flu.

It went from epidemic to pandemic and a scramble was on to get flu vaccines to millions of people not yet affected, but were in danger. By many counts it was the worst outbreak of Influenza since 1918 and the death tolls were mounting.

So on this date in 1957, CBS Radio ran a special report on the state of Flu with Walter Cronkite narrating what was happening to combat the outbreak and what was it looking like for the future.

And on top of Cold War jitters, there was now mass outbreaks of disease to deal with.